Zone Thinks About Some Things
by Crocodilefan
Summary: This is a short piece from my main fic 'The Alchemist Chronicles'


She thought about how Hac's voice had been rough and a tad grating when they had first met, but overtime her mind had just become accustomed to it she guessed. He sat, or stood she supposed, it was hard to tell since he didn't have legs at the large console as a codes trailed up and down the screen at a hypnotically fast pace.

"Do you think those two angels found anything?", he asked.

She sighed, "I'd be very surprised; those readings we picked up weren't similar, no strange energy, no superhealing, and no black slime. Probably just your run of the mill tentacle monster"

There was silence between the two for longer than she was comfortable with, "have faith", it was strange on how little his voice ever changed , with no inflection or pitch, yet conveyed exactly what he meant, she kind of admired that about him and Roxie, being able to communicate so much with so little. She was quiet, shyer than the rest of her team and mostly indecisive outside of combat, despite being on team Control technically giving her seniority over just about everyone else on the island, she never really found herself giving orders.

"I guess it's worth checking in though", she said.

"Let me pull him up on the com", he said, the monitor showed the icon of a ringing phone with the subtitle below reading Mist Office.

"NO, I'll go check, I need to stretch my legs anyway", she interjected, and to her relief the window with the ringing phone closed, why she was relieved even she wasn't sure, it wasn't that she had anything she felt like hiding. she just felt like it would be better to discuss it in person with Alan.

"I under stand", he said as she left, and for the first time she didn't understand what he meant.

She walked down the steel corridor, past people in armor, people in scribe robes, and robots, paying little attention to what they were saying or doing, until she heard a familiar voice coming from a breakroom.

"What the hell is he doing?", the voice, Huey, laid out on the couch, his girlfriend Mizore, played little spoon.

"If the mission was anything other than a dead end, I know he would have gone himself", she assured, "he's been going a tad cuckoo since his old teacher was killed"

"Still, we should have gone, if it had turned up any connection to Zalgo we would have had to go anyway", he insisted their argument was more a friendly debate, neither side holding any animosity for the other, even as he disagreed he took her hand in his and their fingers intertwined. Seeing that gave Zone a deep feeling of warmth and at the same time loneliness.

"We can't go chasing after every single tentacle monster ourselves, we'd be draining every ocean, but that's why we have our allies, besides according the report, they had a….unique solution that resulted peace for both races", she chuckled.

"Let me take a wild gueOh hey Zone", Huey said suddenly noticing she was in the doorway, "were you just spying on us?" She could tell he wasn't mad just embarrassed at not noticing her earlier, Huey was always the observant one, keeping track of what was happening and pretty good at predicting the consequences that would come about, a bit like a chess master but less smug. Huey seemed to have the right amount of emotion and practicality, whereas Mizore and Hac were mostly all logic, and Alan was mostly emotion.

"Uhhhhhh, I don't actually have a good answer for that, you didn't hear me walk in so…." She said blushing.

"And you were wondering if we'd seen the report yet?" Mizore asked. She smiled; Zone always thought she had a pretty smile. Ironically she had one of the warmest and most welcoming personalities; she always made time for people despite the busyness that came with being a chief Big MT scientist and member of team control.

"Actually I was just heading up to ask him, but I heard you two and thought I'd say hi", she sat down in the plastic chair facing the couch.

"HIIII", they both said in unison, "The data they gathered was conclusive, no relation to Zalgo, but we apparently wound up with two different civilizations indebted to us so that's….useful, I imagine Alan isn't too happy though, you should talk to him"

The walk up to the surface level was long. There were plenty of elevators, but she preferred to walk, she didn't tire as most would walking up 13 flights, she began to think about just how large the base actually was, and how unlikely running into her teammates by pure coincidence was. If such a coincidence was so unlikely than could such things be considered fate? She didn't see how the short conversation with the interrupted lovebirds fit into any grand plan, but it was still interesting nonetheless. As she neared the main office she could instantly hear shouting between two people, one her friend and teammate Alan, also known as the Alchemist, and the other the angel known as Stocking.

"We had an agreement, it was for 200!", Alan's voice.

"Well that's not enough anymore! I deserve 600!", Stocking's voice.

"I are you out of your damn mind, do you have any idea how many missions I had to go on for the Tin Foil Hat Society to get that many, not to mention your data is worthless. We agreed 200!"

"Yeah well things changed when I got fucked in the ass!"

"Don't be soo dramatic we've all take one in the ass for the greater good", Zone visibly blushed and frowned at hearing that part, feeling ashamed for that memory.

"I want 600!", Stocking again demanded.

"You know you're not supposed to be doing it for payment anyway, we're all trying to stop the end of all life, remember?"

"F'ed in the A!"

"FUCKING FINE TAKE THEM, TAKE ALL MY WONKA BARS!", Alan shouted, it was at this point Zone walked into the office, upon seeing her his expression changed from one of anger to one of bemusement, as if he suddenly understood the ridiculousness of what they were arguing over. Stocking picked up a rather large full crate that said 'WONKA X 1000.

"Wait", he stopped her, "leave me one". He grabbed one off the top, and she then walked briskly out before he could take another. He unwrapped the bar and broke it in half, "Want some?"

She took the piece, and had to admit, it was the best chocolate in the multiverse.

"Sooooo, tough day?", she asked.

"Considering I spent in an office, mehgmphehbleh", he trailed off into gibberish. His robotic right arm making exaggerated movements and his flesh arm rested at his side, it was a source of controversy amongst those on base, which arm was stronger. One arm could lift boulders and summon monsters, the other was less physically tough, but had an assortment of spells plasmids and other abilities at its disposal; it was also the one his omni-tool rested on. She supposed that if you were to ask him he would say they were both equally strong. According to him what made his augmentations, both robotic and genetic, special were the fact that he taken a weak form and made it into something powerful. She thought the power didn't matter as much to him as the fact that it was different, he hated his body and sought to modify and change it in any possible way, as long as he was something unrecognizable, he would be satisfied at least for the time being, she wondered if he would ever truly be satisfied with himself. She wished he would stop, not the modification, the self-hatred. He could scour the multiverse and find beauty in just about everything but he could not find it in himself, and the existence of Zalgo seemed to confirm everything he thought about himself. That was the ultimate tragedy, she thought, that it was her fault.

"I'm soo done with the bureaucracy today", he said, "I have all this stuff to set up for the Brotherhood vs. Vox tournament, and the uplift contest starts in two weeks"

"Those always weird me out, what was it last year? Dolphins?", she asked.

"It was a failure I don't think anyone really won, I hear Moxxi wants to do deathclaws this year", he said.

"Phrasing?", she giggled.

"It's been done once before, intelligent deathclaws, there's definitely a military incentive for that, other candidates I hear are bears, and", he was cut off.

"Wait, Moxxi is in engineering, not biology, how's she going to evolve deathclaws?", Zone asked.

"She's leading the team, but I don't think she's doing any of the actual biology, her team's full of biologists like Zed, so they have an actual chance, intelligent deathclaws, god help our enemies", he suddenly formed that mad scientist grin all his friends were accustomed to.

"Do you…really believe in god? I mean I know we've seen "gods", but I mean like a big one?" she asked him, unsure herself why she was asking.

"Yup", he said without hesitation.

"You answered quick, even after all the stuff we've seen?", she asked.

"Without a doubt, don't know why he does what he does, maybe he's not paying attention, maybe there's a grand meaning behind all of it, maybe he's just an asshole, I hopefully won't know for a long time, but I know what I know", he assured her.

"I wish I knew what I knew", she mused.

"One day you will".


End file.
